Ver. 1. The word of the Lord that came, &c.] See the note on Hosea 1:1, with whom Jerome and some other interpreters make this prophet a contemporary, for the likeness of argument; and that common canon of the Jewish doctors, that the prophet who sets not down his time is to be held of the same time with him that is placed before him. The Seventy set him not only after Hosea, but also after Amos and Micah: and the ancient Hebrew Chronicle, called Sedar Olam, affirmeth that Joel prophesied together with Nahum and Habakkuk, the days of King Manasseh; which Drusius would prove out of Joel 3:5. Others, with more show of reason, out of 2 Kings 21:10 23:26. Joel might very well be one of those prophets that denounced God’s heavy judgments against Judah, for the sins and abominations of Manasseh, whom some make to be his convert. For although at first the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people, but they would not hearken, (2 Chronicles 33:10) yet the rod might set the word to work afterwards; for Manasseh, when he was in affliction, besought the Lord, and humbled himself greatly, (2 Chronicles 33:12) and Joel might very well be to him a son of Pethuel, or of God’s persuasion: God, by his ministry, might speak to his heart, Hosea 2:14, set before him an open door (another Etymology of the name Pethuel, ostium Dei mouth of God), Revelation 3:8, minister unto him an entrance farther and farther into Christ’s everlasting kingdom, 2 Peter 1:11. If any think it more likely that Joel prophesied under Josiah, king of Judah, when that great famine occured which is described in like terms by Jeremiah, Jeremiah 14:1,2 cf. 2Ki 23:26, I shall not strive with him. But that this Joel was the son of Samuel (here called Pethuel, a persuader of God, because what he asked of God he obtained), as R. Salomon would carry it, I cannot imagine: for that Joel was not a prophet, but a corrupt judge, 1 Samuel 8:1-5.
Ver. 2. Hear this, ye old men] Who, as ye are fittest to hear serious discourses (Aristotle excludeth young men from his ethic lectures, because raw and rash: green wood is ever shrinking and warping), so ye are more experienced; and yet not so wise, but that, by hearing, ye may become wiser, Proverbs 1:5. Solon said, he could never be too old to learn, γηρασκω αιει πολλα διδασκομενος. Julianus, the lawyer, said, that when he had one foot in the grave, yet he would have the other in the school. David Chytraeus, when he lay dying, lifted up himself to hear the divine discourses of his friends that sat by him; and said, that he should die with better cheer if he might die learning something, Si moribundus etiam aliquid didicisset. And give ear, all, &c.] Hear and give ear: draw up the ears of your minds to the ears of your bodies, that one sound may pierce both. When these two words are joined together, as they are often, the matter propounded is either very dark or very remarkable, and commands attention, as Deuteronomy 1:45 Isa 1:2,10 Jer 13:15 Ho 5:1. All ye inhabitants of the land] sc. of Judea, or all ye inhabitants of the whole earth, q.d. I shall speak of so great a matter, as that I could wish to be heard all the world over. And because all men love to hear news, I shall tell you that that was never known to happen in any age. Rem novam pollicetur emphaticoteros quam more Rhetorico, saith Oecolampadius. Prick up your ears, therefore, and listen. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers] Was there ever such havoc made by several sorts of vermin successively, for four years together? This was the very finger of God, Exodus 8:19, all whose works (by how small instruments soever) are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein, Psalms 111:2. His extraordinary works especially are to be noted and noticed; the memory of them is to be transmitted to all posterity. “This shall be written for the generation to come,” Psalms 102:18. “They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this,” Psalms 22:31. Sed vae stupori nostro. There is a woe to such as regard not the works of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands, Isaiah 5:12, that make of them but a nine days’ wonderment at best, and so pass them over. Whereas every judgment of God should be a warning peal to repentance. We be like the smith’s dog (saith one), who the harder the anvil is beaten on, lies by, and sleeps the sounder. Like the hen (saith another), which loseth her chickens one after another by the devouring kite; and yet still continues to pick up what lies before her: such a deep drowsiness and dressiness of spirit there is upon most of us.
Ver. 3. Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children] Heb. Cipher them up diligently, after the manner of mathameticians; reckon up the several years with the several calamities thereof to your children and nephews, that they may hear, and fear, and do no more so, Deuteronomy 19:20. Let your woes be their warnings, your sufferings their standing sermons; your corrections their instructions. See 1 Corinthians 10:5-12. Ruina maiorum sit cautela minornm (Greg. Mot.). Hast thou marked the old way (saith Eliphaz to Job, Job 22:15,16), which wicked men have trodden, which were cut down out of time; whose foundation was overflown with a flood (Heb. a flood was poured upon their foundation), which said unto God, Depart from us? &c. He speaketh of those antediluvian atheists, buried in one universal grave of waters. See Joshua 22:20 Ne 13:26 Jude 5-7, and learn to keep a catalogue of God’s great works, whether of mercy or judgment; yea, to polish and garnish them for the use of posterity, not with vain affectation of wit, nor with pedantic pomp of words, but with sobriety and holy gravity, as here; such as may stick by our children, and leave impression.